Tuesday, April 9, 2019

"It's a good thing we have so many materials."  Caleb

Caleb was working in with blocks when he made this comment, but it could have applied to all of our experiences today.  As children work in their art journals, a separate table is set up to display many of the papers and materials available.  Today there was another table in the area and this one was equipped with a sewing machine.  At this point in the year, we are finding that our previous work exploring various languages can influence and add to the things we are working on now.   Therefore, it was only natural  to include sewing in our art journals.  Will used the machine to use different stitches as he added fabrics in his book.  The the machine jammed and left a hole through his sewing.  He said, "That's okay for me,"  happy with the experiment and the result.  During meeting it was suggested that children could include portraits or self-portraits in their art journals.  Dagny added a portrait and some hand sewing to her journal.  Maisie worked on a portrait and made a copy so that she could share it with her friend Tegan.  Children often talk and think together as they create in their art journals.  Here's some of the conversation from today:
   Sam - I was thinking about shapes.
   Tommy - I made a portrait of Bella (a pet) so I remember.
   Sam - (Using paint sticks on several pages)  It's really pretty.

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Taller Than a Teacher

As mentioned above, Caleb was happy with the amount of materials available for building.  Today children started discussion a possible construction challenge during the meeting:
   Hugh - We might be building taller than a teacher.
   Caleb - Yeah, let's do it!
   Cate - Up to the ceiling.
   Caleb - Yeah, that's the challenge, but we can do that.  Wait.  we're not tall enough.
   Lily - Ladder.
   Cate - Or you might need one taller than you can reach.
   Tommy - Remember in Rainey Room when we made a structure taller than Allison?
   Caleb - The Eiffel Tower.
   Several children - Oh, yeah, I remember that.

Children eagerly set to work on this challenge.  Whether building outside or inside, children always address stability and balance as they build.  Today they used the "criss-cross building" strategy to make a super tall building structurally sound.  As Lily predicted, a ladder was needed to reach the desired height with the building.  As their building neared completion, the  enthusiasm for this tower was evident in their conversation:
    Elena - It's a sky scraper. Sky scrapers are big.
    Caleb - It could be a lightening obsorber.
    Tommy - Its' as tall as the Eiffel Tower.
    Elena - ( Adding colored blocks and stained glass blocks) We need lots and lots of blocks to make it prettier and prettier.
    Lily - It's taller than the ladder.
    Caleb - And we made a huge garage.
    Cate - (Coming over from the art journal table)  How in the world did you do that?
    Elena - We used a ladder, but we builded so stable that it didn't fall.
   Tommy - It's almost as big as the Tucker Room.

What's cooking?

We are looking forward to spending time with families at tomorrow night's Classroom Stories evening.  In preparation, children made a white bean avocado dip to snack on while viewing the slide show.  We hope to see you then.  In the meantime, enjoy these images!